There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.

Aldous Huxley, British author (1894-1963)

It is necessary to try to surpass oneself always; this occupation ought to last as long as life.

Christina, Queen of Sweden (1632-1654)

The road to success is always under construction.

James C Miller, US economist, politician (b. 1942)

We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.

Marian Wright Edelman, US lawyer (b. 1939)

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.

Vincent Van Gogh, Dutch painter (1853-1890)

Vincent Van Gogh

There is no brilliant single stroke that is going to transform the water into wine or straw into gold.

Coleman Young, US senator (1918-1997)

You can’t improve 100% in one thing. But you can improve 1% in 100 things.

John Willard Marriott, US executive, Marriott Hotels (b. 1932)

The rung of the ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man’s foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher.

T H Huxley, British biologist (1825-1895)

The productivity of people requires continuous learning, as the Japanese have taught us. It requires adoption in the West of the specific Japanese Zen concept where one learns to do better what one already does well.

Peter Drucker, US management author (1909-2005)

Improvement makes straight roads; but the crooked roads without improvement are roads of genius.

William Blake, British poet, painter, engineer (1757-1827)

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.

Robert Collier, US advertising copywriter (1885-1950)

Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement and success have no meaning.

About Me

In order, I am a family man, a northerner, and a writer. Scarily it is over forty years since BBC Schools Radio gave me my first commission, and I have been writing as a part-time freelance ever since, mainly plays for the Beeb, and for education publishers. I got involved also with writing questions and formats for various TV and radio quiz shows. It's only in the last few years that I have been able to write full time, and in that period have produced: a collection of short stories 'We Never Had It So Good'; a thriller novel '11:59', which reached the semi-final of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2010; an historical novel 'Mr Stephenson's Regret', an Amazon semi-finalist in 2011; a psychological mystery 'As Close As You Are To Me'; and a micro-fiction collection 'HE and SHE: 1000 stories in 1000 tweets'. I also do readings and workshops.